A superb naive woolworked picture of a 'cutter' in full sail at sea. Unusually this can be attributed to the artist/sailor that created it - the annotation to the reverse backing board reads 'Worked by Mr. A. E. Skinner'. This is the third 'woolie' we've come across by this artist. A previously found, similar one was dated '1921' which suggests that this example would date to a similar era, i.e. the early 1900s.
 
The woolwork is wonderfully simple in design, and in fact displays a similarity to the naive paintings of Alfred Wallis (1855–1942). Like the other examples we found created by Mr Skinner, this was sourced in West Cornwall, so there is a strong possibility that he knew, or was aware of Wallis, who was based in St Ives at the time.